As a plurality of sheet materials are supplied by the material feeder system to processing equipment in the next step for sheet material processing, it often gives rise to a breakdown of the processing equipment.
In order to prevent such a breakdown of the processing equipment, the material feeder system must feed sheet materials to the next step on a one-by-one basis.
For the material feeder system, therefore, it is required to ensure that one sheet material is separated off from a stack of sheet materials.
Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 51-068177 discloses an apparatus for producing a gap partly between a specific sheet material and a sheet material positioned just below it.
This sheet stripper is provided for stripping the uppermost sheet material from a stack of sheet materials comprising a pile of multiple sheet materials, and comprises a holder member having a plurality of blades extending parallel to the sides of the uppermost sheet material, a first displacement means for moving the holder member away from the sides of the sheet material and a second displacement means for moving the holder member in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the sheet material.